Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A crack detector comprising: a plurality of crack detection switches for connecting/disconnecting data lines of a display panel to one another; a signal supply configured to supply a detection control signal for controlling closing/opening of the crack detection switches, and to supply a crack detection signal to a first data line of the data lines; and a crack determiner configured to determine a crack of the display panel by comparing an output signal supplied from a second data line of the data lines connected to the first data line through a first one of the crack detection switches, with a preset reference value, wherein a number of the crack detection switches is one half of a number of the data lines of the display panel.
2. The crack detector of claim 1 , wherein each of the crack detection switches electrically connects and disconnects two data lines to one another.
3. The crack detector of claim 2 , wherein each of the data lines has a near end and a far end, and each of the crack detection switches is connected to far ends of the two data lines, wherein the two data lines are adjacent to each other.
4. The crack detector of claim 1 , wherein the detection control signal causes each of the crack detection switches to substantially simultaneously close and thereby electrically connect input and output data lines of a respective pair of the data lines.
5. The crack detector of claim 1 , wherein the crack detection signal corresponds to a preset test voltage, wherein the reference value is a voltage beyond an expected range of the output signal for a non-cracked condition, wherein an edge of the range is a preset voltage offset from the test voltage.
6. The crack detector of claim 5 , wherein the crack determiner outputs crack data indicative of the presence of a crack affecting the first and second data lines when the output signal is out of the range of the reference value.
7. The crack detector of claim 1 , wherein the crack detection signal corresponds to a preset test current, wherein the reference value corresponds to a preset line resistance range.
8. The crack detector of claim 7 , wherein the crack determiner outputs crack data indicative of the presence of a crack affecting the first and second data lines when a resistance value calculated from the output signal is outside the line resistance range.
9. A display device comprising: a display panel including a plurality of pixels connected to a plurality of scan lines and a plurality of data lines; a scan driver configured to supply a scan signal to each of the scan lines; a data driver configured to supply a data signal to each of the data lines; and a crack detector configured to detect a crack of the display panel, based on a crack detection signal supplied to the data lines, wherein the crack detector includes: a plurality of crack detection switches for connecting/disconnecting the data lines to one another; a signal supply configured to supply a detection control signal for controlling closing/opening of the crack detection switches; and a crack determiner configured to determine a crack of the display panel and a position of the crack among the plurality of data lines by comparing an output signal supplied from the data lines with a preset reference value, wherein a number of the crack detection switches is one half of a number of the data lines.
10. The display device of claim 9 , wherein each of the data lines has a near end connected to the data driver, and a far end opposite the near end, and each of the crack detection switches is connected to far ends of two data lines adjacent to each other at one side of the display panel.
11. The display device of claim 9 , wherein the crack detection switches are closed during a crack detection period included in a vertical blank period.
12. The display device of claim 11 , wherein the crack detection switches are substantially simultaneously closed during a time interval in the range of about 1H to 2H, where H is a horizontal period currently used by the display device to display a line of a frame.
13. The display device of claim 9 , wherein the data lines include: input data lines connected to the signal supply to receive a crack detection signal for crack detection; and output data lines connected to the crack determiner to provide the output signal to the crack determiner.
14. The display device of claim 13 , wherein the crack detection switches respectively connect the input data lines to the output data lines.
15. The display device of claim 13 , wherein the input data lines and the output data lines are connected to the data driver during a display period, and are connected to the crack detector during a vertical blank period.
16. The display device of claim 9 , wherein the data driver outputs a crack detection signal for crack detection during a partial period of a vertical blank period.
17. The display device of claim 16 , wherein the data lines include: input data lines connected to the data driver, the input data lines each receiving a respective data voltage during a display period, the input data lines receiving the crack detection signal during the vertical blank period; and output data lines connected to the data driver during the display period to receive a respective data voltage, and connected to the crack determiner in the vertical blank period to provide the output signal to the crack determiner.
18. A method for driving a display device, the method comprising: closing a crack detection switch to thereby electrically connect an input data line and an output data line, during a crack detection period included in a vertical blank period; when the input and output data lines are electrically connected, supplying a crack detection signal to the input data line and receiving an output signal supplied from the output data line; if a level of the output signal is within a preset range, displaying an image of a next frame; and if the level of the output signal is outside the preset range, outputting crack data indicative of a crack affecting the input and output data lines, wherein: the crack detection switch is a first crack detection switch, the input data line is a first data line, the output data line is a second data line adjacent to the first data line, and the display device further comprises a third data line and a fourth data line adjacent to the third data line and a second crack detection switch connected between the third data line and the fourth data line, said closing the crack detection switch comprises closing the first crack detection switch during a first frame, and the method further comprising: opening the second crack detection switch during the first frame while the first crack detection switch is closed; and closing the second crack detection switch during a second frame succeeding or preceding the first frame, and opening the first crack detection switch during the second frame while the second crack detection switch is closed.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising outputting a warning image in response to the crack data.
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May 4, 2021
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